There’s only one place to start this morning and that’s with yesterday’s incredible 1-0 win over Barcelona in Lisbon.
A 74th minute goal from substitute Stina Blackstenius, set up by fellow sub Beth Mead, was enough to win the Champions League and crown what will go down as an historic season for Arsenal Women. I’m not going to go into all the nuts and bolts of the game and the performance, I’ll leave that to those who do it far better than me, but to beat this Barcelona team you’ve got to work so hard and have everyone play at something close to their best level. That’s what we got.
Huge credit to Renee Slegers and her staff, and as captain Kim Little said afterwards, they executed the game plan perfectly. This was no fluke, this was every single person involved with this team giving their maximum. An amazing collective effort which was enough to beat probably the best team in the world and to become Champions of Europe.
I won’t lie, and I’m sure if you watched it you’ll have felt the same, the last part of the game felt like an eternity. I couldn’t help think of how in 2006 we were basically that close to doing it in Paris only for that game to slip away from us, but we were defensively so strong, brilliantly organised, and when the 700000 minutes of added time were up and the ref blew the whistle, I felt very emotional. Not just because this was a massive success for the club, the manager, the players, and the fans, but there were a couple of other aspects in play for me. Let me explain.
Back in February, our friends and neighbours lost their daughter to cancer. She was just 19, mad about football and not just watching either – she was a fantastic player too. Her illness robbed her of that, but during that period she had incredible support from the likes of Louise Quinn, Katie McCabe, and others, and there were trips to see Arsenal Women that were made special with behind the scenes stuff. Her parents and her brother were in Lisbon yesterday and in the stands with the Arsenal fans. So, for Aidan, Emma and Con, I was so invested in this game turning out the right way.
Safe travels home you guys, and that was one for Freya ❤️
The other one is a bit closer to home. Back in 2011 when Arseblog’s future was very much on a knife-edge for reasons I have explained before (OleOle!), I suggested to Tim Stillman that we do a bit more around the women’s team. He was very much open to that and already somebody whose knowledge and support of the team was basically second to none. So, we set up our dedicated Arsenal Women section on Arseblog News.
It took some time to build an audience. Initially, we’d get a lot of comments like ‘Who cares about women’s football?’, and ones which were far more pejorative and downright sexist. There was some pretty grim stuff, I have to tell you, most of which never gets seen or gets published because we have ways of filtering that kind of crap out. However, it took longer than it should have for some people to realise that if you don’t like women’s football or stories about Arsenal Women, you don’t have to click on them or read them.
Just move on. Wait for the next story. It’s not mandatory. Don’t waste everyone’s time by saying ‘Who cares?’. And here we are in 2025, and so many people care. There is a big audience and massive support for Arsenal Women which is growing year after year. There’s a podcast which is really popular, a weekly newsletter too, and the most in-depth coverage of the team you’ll find anywhere.
And that is down to Tim. He’s got great access and great relationships to provide the depth of coverage that he does, but that’s because he has put in the hard yards and the hard words for years and years and years. Lisbon away winning the Champions League might be the culmination of well over a decade crappy train journeys to sit in dodgy grounds to have people say ‘Arse … Blog?’ like it’s a dirty word when he checks into the press box.
Arsenal played 15 games to win the Champions League this season, from early qualifying rounds all the way to the final, and I think I’m right in saying Tim was at all of them, home and away. So, while there has been some success and trophies along the way, this is something a bit extra, something special. He has done so much to help generate interest in Arsenal Women, to make it easy for people to find the information and coverage they need to drive that interest, and by virtue of writing and producing so much high quality stuff that I am so proud to give a platform to on this site.
Chapeau, as they say. To Tim, and Jamie and Jason who are part of the crew out in Lisbon this weekend too, and all the contributors down the years. I hope you all had a great night, and let’s hope there’s lots more to come. I loved seeing Ian Wright out there too, a wonderful supporter and advocate for the women’s game for so many years, and boy was he enjoying himself. Rightly so!
I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface of all of it. The celebrations were amazing, and the post-game interviews on TNT Sports were great. I particularly liked Karen Carney just throwing down her mic to go and grab people to come and talk to them, and how can I not mention Katie McCabe dropping a solid ‘f*cking’ on live TV? Shades of Freddie Ljungberg’s ‘It’s f*ckin excellent’, and then a few minutes later Leah Williamson joined the club. Just glorious.
— Keithy (@metalgiroud.bsky.social) 2025-05-24T18:15:35.893Z
Anyway, when he gets back, I’m sure Tim will have a podcast with all the actual analysis of the game itself rather than the occasion, but for now, there’s a little video below of him and Jamie in Lisbon trying to make some late-night sense of it all.
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There is, of course, the final Premier League game of the season today, and providing I can find a stream, we’ll have all the usual coverage, live blog etc, later on. There doesn’t seem much point in previewing it, there’s nothing at stake, and hopefully it’s a nice kickabout on the South Coast and three points for the Gunners to finish off the 2024-25 campaign.
Right, I’ll catch you later for that game, for now, enjoy your Sunday. Enjoy the highlights and the pictures and the videos, and enjoy that Arsenal Women are Champions of Europe.
❤️
